**Apologies for Cross-postings**
Showcase Symposium: The Future of Development Management
Sponsored by PNP, SIM and CMS Divisions
Tuesday, Aug 10 2010 1:15PM - 2:45PM at The Queen Elizabeth in Peribonca
Co-Chairs: Nilima Gulrajani; London School of Economics & Willy McCourt; U. of Manchester;
Participant: Bill Cooke; Lancaster University
Participant: Gary J. Reid; World Bank
Participant: Jonathan Murphy; Cardiff University
Participant: Chris Mowles; University of Hertfordshire
Participant: Mark Turner; University of Canberra
Symposium Overview
One of the ways in which management scholars and practitioners can express their 'passion and compassion' is by deploying their expertise to assist in the 'development' of poor countries of the South. This panel will be structured as a debate that reviews both the progress and limitations of development management, takes stock of what it has achieved, assesses the current state of the field and considers ways forward in the light of current development challenges.
In the years since the independence of former European colonies in Africa and Asia, administrative expertise made a central contribution to development through the large-scale planning and capacity building initiatives. At the same time, expertise grew in the management of donor-funded projects, the pre-eminent mode of international development assistance. Even after the collapse of confidence in public sector-led development that ensued after the oil-price rises of the 1970s and the election of right-wing governments in industrialized countries, development management retained a role in the implementation of neo-liberal reforms in the global South and as a practice within development organizations. But this very ubiquity of 'development management has provoked a fundamental critique from 'critical development management' scholars about the de-humanizing and oppressive tendencies of developers who 'manage' the global South. Yet, there appears to have been little by way of practical response to this critique, that is, a way forward that both recognizes the limitations of development management while still pro-actively and systematically removing North-South and South-South inequalities. What does all this mean for the ways forward for development management as both a practice and a discipline?
This symposium brings together both old and new voices on contemporary debates in development management, many of whom contributed to a recent special issue of Public Administration and Development (2010) reflecting on the future of development management. Symposium participants will be invited to outline their view of the current state of management in development and contribute to a debate on new approaches appropriate to the development challenges of the 21st century. What adjustments do existing approaches need to respond to challenges and address new conditions? Has the time come to discard exhausted theories and practices? The symposium is intended as a lively debate among scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of development and management who hail from diverse geographic, disciplinary and political locations.
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